Dr. Jendayi Fraser
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
The State Department
Washington DC

Dear Dr. Jendayi Fraser:

This is a follow up to one posted in few Eritrean websites last April. So much has changed since then and for keen followers of the Horn politics a lot of opportunities came by to know more about your take of the rapidly evolving events in the Horn.

Then, after the tacit approval and support of your administration, Ethiopia had completed its invasion of Somalia; the so-called Somalia Transitional Government and all the parties involved declared that Somalia has been freed of what your administration then euphemistically called extremists. On the contrary, the Somali people were snatched of a rare opportunity to stabilize their society and start a process of reconciliation and reconstitution of their nation, nor did those who initiated and executed the invasion managed to establish "peace" on their terms which is non other than total control of the Somali people's destiny. Now, Woyane's Ethiopia finds itself in a quagmire.

In a similar pattern as in the Iraqi quagmire, your administration has been carrying a concerted smear campaign blaming others for your failed policy in Somalia. All along, few observers have been maintaining an empathic stand notwithstanding the responsibility that you carry on the merit of your office as Under Secretary of State for African Affairs. They preferred to give you the benefit of doubt since it is a known fact that the State Department has a long anti-Eritrean history that dates back to the fifties. Besides, the known anti- Eritrean elements that have for a long time franchised the US policy in the Horn make that flexible assesment more plausible.

Obvious as it may seem, that is one of the reasons that senior Eritrean officials have often described your limitations in terms of the duration and the complexity of the politics of the Red Sea basin.

Just from the time they were planning the Woyane--Ethiopian-- invasion of Somalia, the policy makers and their associates have been flaunting deceptive lines associating Eritrea with what they then called extremist elements, at times spilling the "T" word here and there. At that time, when a journalist asked you on that regard, you gave him an honest assessment of the situation indicating the possible motivation of Eritrea and also that you are not speaking out of first hand knowledge.

Since then, there has not been a single report indicating that you had some sort of direct communication with senior Eritrean officials. Moreover, what we are witnessing recently especially since your announcement ordering the closure of the Eritrean Consulate in Oakland is similar to the "irrational exuberance" exhibited by those who mislead America to the quagmire in Iraq. No wonder either, since those who run the show in Somalia read from the same page. But, with your relatively recent exposure to the dynamics of the Horn conflict it is not easy to determine your exact role in this theatre of deception and war mongering?

High profile US bureaucrats and senior officials in the present and previous Administration have been victims of deceptive ploys mainly with the so-called war on terror. So it is fair to examine your role from that perspective first, yet some troubling facts are coming out that urges one to explore further.

In the recent 34-point summary report published by the MoI, http://www.shabait.com/staging/publish/article_007139.html , there is a reference to

your referendum proposal which is an illegal substitute for the border verdict.

Over the last seven years after witnessing several "proposals" and counter proposals with the sole intention of delaying the peace process or derailing the implementation of the Verdict, Eritreans simply said, here is another one while many wondered if there is something new that they don't know about the rule of law.

The report didn't specify the date or the location, but that could be when you contacted senior Eritrean officials in Washington. Thereafter, your faulty and unfounded allegations against Eritrea was mainly based on the so called Somalia Monitoring Group that had already made its sloppiness quite obvious when it reported the presence of ghostly 2000 Eritrean troops during the Woyane(Ethiopian) invasion.

The concern expressed in this open letter is not about those who have been for a long period of time--that spans into decades-- behind the fueling of conflicts in the Horn nor those who have been the designated tools of this strategy of domination and exploitation. Moreover, the question raised now is not about the influence that those evil elements have on your decision making process but whether you have an established link or association with these destructive elements. In the meantime, there is no need to mention a name or two of those who represent the evil shadow cast by the enemies of Eritrea onto the present and previous administrations.

While the EU, a major US partner has earnestly called on Eritrea to be a partner in its peace and development efforts in the Horn, on quite several occasions you contradicted the acknowledged role of Eritrea. Your statements mimics almost to the letter what the deceptive personalities otherwise considered as experts have been trying to paint the peaceful and resourceful nation of Eritrea. Leaving aside the covert and overt activities of known interests in Darfur, for an outside observer whose main source of information is the main stream media, it is not that difficult to misrepresent facts, but to blemish "Eritrea is active in the Sudan for the wrong reasons" while the whole world has been witnessing the outcome of the peace negotiations facilitated by Eritrea in settling the Eastern Sudan crisis points totally in the other direction.

The positive role Eritrea played somehow fell below your radar. It is not any more a controversial issue or a point of crisis that has happened in another land where there is no oil and gas. The media, alternative or mainstream has reported it as a major step towards a comprehensive peace and stability in the Sudan and also in the whole region.

In a language and tone that is hard to distinguish between a diplomat representing a super power and that of the leaders of a client state you misrepresented the venue of struggle that various liberation movements within Ethiopia have been forced to chose. Your condescending statements directed at those who have been forced to raise arms don't hold water.

Well, there is no need that you read the dossier of Vicki Huddleston , the former chargé d'affaires of the State Department to Ethiopia how her office micromanaged the rigged election back in May 2005. Not to speak of one party or the other many prominent Ethiopians who run for the 1995 elections who have given their full trust to your administration--probably you were not at SD then--- have been betrayed in broad day time. Unequivocally, these personalities were and are for a peaceful transition of power which you have been markedly pointing at OLF, ONLF and others when they know better than those who try to lay them a trap that the guarantor of such a democratic exercise is non other than the untrustworthy department in your administration.

Never mind to mention again the rejection of a court verdict by the Woyanes which is in contravention of a peaceful way of solving a conflict--well, assuming of course the facilitators and the mediators genuinely believe in a democratic and peaceful methods.

Despite the deafening regurgitation for freedom and democracy by your adminstration, many observes compare the continuity of the tasks that Vicki Huddleston started-- aborting of a basic democratic process in Ethiopia with your Somalia mission of aborting the locally initiated peace process, albeit with an added vigor.

Dr. Jendayi you have gone overdrive in the smear campaign and in the misrepresentation of Eritrea's role in the Horn aligning yourself with those who are well known for their anti-Eritrean stance. Moreover, in a revealing article http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=37228 by an Eritrean-American researcher that challenges the veracity of the so called Somali Monitoring Group, there are segments which point in the direction of your association away from what you condescendingly preach others about peaceful and diplomatic resolution of conflicts.

[Here is an excerpt from an article by African Analysis that provides some insight as to who Richard Orth is and his relationship to Jendayi E. Frazier and how the US media is working in tandem with the US State Department to vilify Eritrea:

Further, links are made with a notorious arms dealer, Victor Bout who is on international search warrant for arms smuggling.

Before such revelations came to light, despite your preposterous proposals and outright misrepresentation, many have been feeling sorry for a similar fate that befell on another Afro-American official once again deceived to recant before the world community the lies of those who sent America to war; yet again in Somalia.

Being misguided or deceived is something that could be forgiven but to be an accomplice with those "shadowy" elements is quite different. The query is not yet conclusive, yet it lays the ground work for further investigation.

Upon reading this article that brings your association with elements who have links with notorious arms dealers, the subject matter changes from dealing with a misguided/deceived diplomat to inquiring for a possible role as a fully aware accessory of conflicts that is diametrically opposite to the realm of diplomacy. It has a two worded name: facilitator of state-terrorism.

This way or the other, Dr. Jendayi, you have joined the ant-Eritrean chorus that blemish the name of a resilient and peace loving nation with a distinct contribution that derailed the Bin Laden train off its East African tracks. You dare to list Eritrea as a sponsor of terrorism! Please pass this question to your associate, Col. Richard Orst who thinks he knows much about the mountains and ridges and seas of the Horn.

In your latest press conference you gave a timeline for a nation to get off the list once it is on as a sponsor of terrorism. Never mind, even if we cannot speak for the Eritrean government which will hopefully take a legal action against your sources as in the Somalia Monitoring Group, private citizens, especially those "200,000 Eritreans" living in the United States will one day bring their testimony when those who are deceptively misleading the United States to go to unprovoked wars are brought to account. In the mean time, we will definitely find out: if you are a misguided diplomat or an associate of those evil elements that are already in our files and in our hearts.

Well, as half of Eritrea is currently fasting and also in the Eritrean spirit of magnanimity we harbor no evil and we pray that another sister gets out of the shadow of evil. However, why don't you remind those known warmongers that are close to you, what the minister of information Mr. Ali Abdu has succinctly put it in this holy month of Ramadan: When Eritreans bow it is only when they pray or when they shoot.

Awet Nhafash!

Haileab Luul Tesfai
Toronto.

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